Method and apparatus for creating and playing soundtracks in a gaming system

ABSTRACT

A gaming system includes a game console that executes an application that creates and plays soundtracks through the gaming system. The application allows a user to create soundtracks by copying audio tracks from one or more audio sources. A user-created soundtrack can be associated with a particular game such that the user-created soundtrack is played during execution of the game instead of the game&#39;s default soundtrack.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of co-pending application Ser. No.09/802,661, filed Mar. 9, 2001, entitled “Method and Apparatus forCreating and Playing Soundtracks in a Gaming System”, and incorporatedherein by reference.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to gaming systems and, more particularly, to thecreation of soundtracks using a gaming system and to the playback ofsoundtracks using a gaming system.

BACKGROUND

Gaming systems currently available on the market are capable of playinggame discs, music CDs, and movie DVDs from a disc drive. For example,the Playstation® 2 gaming system from Sony Corporation provides theability to play games, music, and video titles from a disc inserted inthe console. Certain gaming systems also provide a modem or othermechanism for establishing an online connection to facilitate onlinegaming.

Current gaming systems play games that typically include a gamesoundtrack. The game soundtrack is stored on a disc along with the game(i.e., a game disc). This game soundtrack includes music that is createdby or selected by the game developer. If the user of the gaming systemdislikes the game soundtrack or grows tired of the same soundtrack beingplayed repeatedly, some gaming systems allow the user to launch the gamefrom the game disc, and then replace the game disc with an audio CD thatis played by the gaming system while the game is executed. However, ifthe game requires additional information from the game disc (e.g., whenchanging from one level to another), the user must remove the audio CDand re-insert the game disc. After the additional information has beenretrieved from the game disc, the game disc can be removed from thegaming system and replaced with the audio CD. This switching of discsdisrupts the gaming experience and is a nuisance to the user.

The system and method described herein addresses these limitations byproviding a mechanism to create soundtracks in a gaming system and toselect a soundtrack to be played while executing a particular game.

SUMMARY

The method and apparatus described herein provide the ability to create,edit, and play soundtracks in a gaming system. The soundtracks includeone or more audio tracks copied or retrieved from one or more audiosources (such as an audio CD, an audio DVD, a game disc, or an onlinesource containing audio files). Soundtracks are stored on a hard diskdrive in the gaming system and can be played back through the gamingsystem. Additionally, soundtracks stored in the gaming system can beassociated with a particular game such that the soundtrack is played(instead of the game's default soundtrack) while the game executes. Thissystem allows the user to choose or create a soundtrack based on theuser's audio preferences, and does not limit the user to the gamesoundtrack provided by the game developer.

In the described implementation, the gaming system includes a gameconsole and one or more controllers. The game console is equipped with ahard disk drive, a portable media drive, and broadband connectivity. Aconsole application stored on the hard disk drive is loaded when thegame console is powered on. The console application presents a menuhierarchy that includes various soundtrack creation and soundtrackselection menus. The soundtrack creation menu allows the user to selectvarious audio tracks to be included in a soundtrack. The soundtrackselection menu allows the user to select a soundtrack for playback orfor associating with a particular game such that the soundtrack isplayed when the particular game is launched.

When a game is launched, the gaming system determines whether thelaunched game has a user-associated soundtrack. If so, theuser-associated soundtrack is retrieved from the hard disk drive andplayed while the game is executed. If the launched game does not have auser-associated soundtrack, the gaming system either 1) plays thedefault game soundtrack provided by the game developer; or 2) allows theuser to select the soundtrack to be played while the game is executed.The user of the gaming system can change soundtracks in the middle of agame by pausing the game and selecting a different soundtrack. Thegaming system then resumes execution of the game and begins playing thenewly selected soundtrack.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a gaming system that implements a uniform mediaportal architecture.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the gaming system.

FIG. 3 illustrates a network gaming system in which the FIG. 1 gamingsystem is connected via a network to other consoles and services.

FIG. 4 illustrates a navigation hierarchy employed by the gaming system.

FIG. 5 illustrates a graphical user interface depicting the main menu ofthe gaming system.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of the main menu navigation process that isperformed after the gaming system is initialized.

FIG. 7 illustrates a graphical user interface depicting a musiccollection menu that is accessible from the main menu.

FIG. 8 illustrates a graphical user interface depicting a music playerthat is accessible from the music collection menu.

FIG. 9 illustrates a graphical user interface depicting a screen displayused to select an existing soundtrack or create a new soundtrack.

FIG. 10 illustrates the creation of a soundtrack using a variety ofdifferent audio sources.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for creating a newsoundtrack.

FIG. 12 illustrates a graphical user interface depicting a screendisplayed during the creation of a soundtrack.

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram illustrating a process that determines whichsoundtrack to play when a particular game is launched.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The method and apparatus discussed herein allows users to create andplay soundtracks in a gaming system. A soundtrack can be played byitself or played at the same time a game is executed, thereby replacingthe soundtrack provided with the game. The soundtrack is created bycopying audio data (or audio tracks) from one or more audio sources andstoring the audio data as a soundtrack on a hard disk drive. The audiosources may include audio CDs, audio DVDs, game discs, and onlinesources that contain music files available for download. Since thesoundtrack is played from the hard disk drive, it is not necessary toremove the game disc or other media from the gaming system prior toplaying the soundtrack.

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary gaming system 100. It includes a game console102 and up to four controllers, as represented by controllers 104(1) and104(2). The game console 102 is equipped with an internal hard diskdrive and a portable media drive 106 that supports various forms ofportable storage media as represented by optical storage disc 108.Examples of suitable portable storage media include DVD, CD-ROM, gamediscs, and so forth.

The game console 102 has four slots 110 on its front face to support upto four controllers 104, although the number and arrangement of slotsmay be modified. A power button 112 and an eject button 114 are alsopositioned on the front face of the game console 102. The power button112 switches power to the game console and the eject button 114alternately opens and closes a tray of the portable media drive 106 toallow insertion and extraction of the storage disc 108.

The game console 102 connects to a television or other display (notshown) via A/V interfacing cables 120. A power cable 122 provides powerto the game console. The game console 102 may further be configured withbroadband capabilities, as represented by the cable or modem connector124 to facilitate access to a network, such as the Internet.

Each controller 104 is coupled to the game console 102 via a wire orwireless interface. In the illustrated implementation, the controllersare USB (Universal Serial Bus) compatible and are connected to theconsole 102 via serial cables 130. The controller 102 may be equippedwith any of a wide variety of user interaction mechanisms. Asillustrated in FIG. 1, each controller 104 is equipped with twothumbsticks 132(1) and 132(2), a D-pad 134, buttons 136, and twotriggers 138. These mechanisms are merely representative, and otherknown gaming mechanisms may be substituted for or added to those shownin FIG. 1.

A memory unit (MU) 140 may be inserted into the controller 104 toprovide additional and portable storage. Portable memory units enableusers to store game parameters and port them for play on other consoles.In the described implementation, each controller 104 is configured toaccommodate two memory units 140, although more or less than two unitsmay be employed in other implementations.

The gaming system 100 is capable of playing, for example, games, music,and videos. With the different storage offerings, titles can be playedfrom the hard disk drive or the portable medium 108 in drive 106, froman online source, or from a memory unit 140. A sample of what the gamingsystem 100 is capable of playing back include:

-   -   1. Game titles played from CD and DVD, from the hard disk drive,        or from an online source.    -   2. Digital music played from a CD in the portable media drive        106, from a file on the hard disk drive (e.g., Windows Media        Audio (WMA) format), or from online streaming sources.    -   3. Digital audio/video played from a DVD disc in the portable        media drive 106, from a file on the hard disk drive (e.g.,        Active Streaming Format), or from online streaming sources.

FIG. 2 shows functional components of the gaming system 100 in moredetail. The game console 102 has a central processing unit (CPU) 200 anda memory controller 202 that facilitates processor access to varioustypes of memory, including a flash ROM (Read Only Memory) 204, a RAM(Random Access Memory) 206, a hard disk drive 208, and the portablemedia drive 106. The CPU 200 is equipped with a level 1 cache 210 and alevel 2 cache 212 to temporarily store data and hence reduce the numberof memory access cycles, thereby improving processing speed andthroughput.

The CPU 200, memory controller 202, and various memory devices areinterconnected via one or more buses, including serial and parallelbuses, a memory bus, a peripheral bus, and a processor or local bususing any of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example, sucharchitectures can include an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, aMicro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, an Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, aVideo Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, and aPeripheral Component Interconnects (PCI) bus, also known as a Mezzaninebus.

As one suitable implementation, the CPU 200, memory controller 202, ROM204, and RAM 206 are integrated onto a common module 214. In thisimplementation, ROM 204 is configured as a flash ROM that is connectedto the memory controller 202 via a PCI (Peripheral ComponentInterconnect) bus and a ROM bus (neither of which are shown). RAM 206 isconfigured as multiple DDR SDRAM (Double Data Rate Synchronous DynamicRAM) that are independently controlled by the memory controller 202 viaseparate buses (not shown). The hard disk drive 208 and portable mediadrive 106 are connected to the memory controller via the PCI bus and anATA (AT Attachment) bus 216.

A 3D graphics processing unit 220 and a video encoder 222 form a videoprocessing pipeline for high speed and high resolution graphicsprocessing. Data is carried from the graphics processing unit 220 to thevideo encoder 222 via a digital video bus (not shown). An audioprocessing unit 224 and an audio codec (coder/decoder) 226 form acorresponding audio processing pipeline with high fidelity and stereoprocessing. Audio data is carried between the audio processing unit 224and the audio codec 226 via a communication link (not shown). The videoand audio processing pipelines output data to an A/V (audio/video) port228 for transmission to the television or other display. In theillustrated implementation, the video and audio processing components220-228 are mounted on the module 214.

Also implemented on the module 214 are a USB host controller 230 and anetwork interface 232. The USB host controller 230 is coupled to the CPU200 and the memory controller 202 via a bus (e.g., PCI bus) and servesas host for the peripheral controllers 104(1)-104(4). The networkinterface 232 provides access to a network (e.g., Internet, homenetwork, etc.) and may be any of a wide variety of various wired orwireless interface components including an Ethernet card, a modem, aBluetooth module, a cable modem, and the like.

The game console 102 has two dual controller support subassemblies240(1) and 240(2), with each subassembly supporting two game controllers104(1)-104(4). A front panel I/O subassembly 242 supports thefunctionality of the power button 112 and the eject button 114, as wellas any LEDs (light emitting diodes) or other indicators exposed on theouter surface of the game console. The subassemblies 240(1), 240(2), and242 are coupled to the module 214 via one or more cable assemblies 244.

Eight memory units 140(1)-140(8) are illustrated as being connectable tothe four controllers 104(1)-104(4), i.e., two memory units for eachcontroller. Each memory unit 140 offers additional storage on whichgames, game parameters, and other data may be stored. When inserted intoa controller, the memory unit 140 can be accessed by the memorycontroller 202.

A system power supply module 250 provides power to the components of thegaming system 100. A fan 252 cools the circuitry within the game console102.

The game console 102 implements a uniform media portal model thatprovides a consistent user interface and navigation hierarchy to moveusers through various entertainment areas. The portal model offers aconvenient way to access content from multiple different mediatypes—game data, audio data, and video data—regardless of the media typeinserted into the portable media drive 106.

To implement the uniform media portal model, a console user interface(UI) application 260 is stored on the hard disk drive 208. When the gameconsole is powered on, various portions of the console application 260are loaded into RAM 206 and/or caches 210, 212 and executed on the CPU200. The console application 260 presents a graphical user interfacethat provides a consistent user experience when navigating to differentmedia types available on the game console.

The gaming system 100 may be operated as a standalone system by simplyconnecting the system to a television or other display. In thisstandalone mode, the gaming system 100 allows one or more players toplay games, watch movies, or listen to music. However, with theintegration of broadband connectivity made available through the networkinterface 232, the gaming system 100 may further be operated as aparticipant in a larger network gaming community.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary network gaming environment 300 thatinterconnects multiple gaming systems 100(1), . . . , 100(g) via anetwork 302. The network 302 represents any of a wide variety of datacommunications networks. It may include public portions (e.g., theInternet) as well as private portions (e.g., a residential Local AreaNetwork (LAN)), as well as combinations of public and private portions.Network 302 may be implemented using any one or more of a wide varietyof conventional communications media including both wired and wirelessmedia. Any of a wide variety of communications protocols can be used tocommunicate data via network 302, including both public and proprietaryprotocols. Examples of such protocols include TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, NetBEUI,etc.

In addition to gaming systems 100, one or more online services 304(1), .. . , 304(s) may be accessible via the network 302 to provide variousservices for the participants, such as hosting online games, servingdownloadable music or video files, hosting gaming competitions, servingstreaming audio/video files, and the like. The network gamingenvironment 300 may further involve a key distribution center 306 thatplays a role in authenticating individual players and/or gaming systems100 to one another as well as online services 304. The distributioncenter 306 distributes keys and service tickets to valid participantsthat may then be used to form games amongst multiple players or topurchase services from the online services 304.

The network gaming environment 300 introduces another memory sourceavailable to individual gaming systems 100—online storage. In additionto the portable storage medium 108, the hard disk drive 208, and thememory unit(s) 140, the gaming system 100(1) can also access data filesavailable at remote storage locations via the network 302, asexemplified by remote storage 308 at online service 304(s).

FIG. 4 shows the uniform media portal model 400. It provides a main menu402 that acts as a common interface for multiple media types, includinggame media, movie media, and music media. The main menu 402 presents theuser with a set of navigation choices that accurately describe what theywould like to interact with on their console. This top-level menu is asimple representation of the three primary entertainment areas availableon the console, thus presenting the following choices:

-   -   Games: This entertainment area pertains to a user's game        experience and gaming media.    -   Music: This entertainment area is dedicated to the music context        and audio media.    -   Movies: This entertainment area relates to a user's movie        experience and video media.

The model's navigation hierarchy follows the media theme. Beneath themain menu 402 are collections of titles that pertain to their particularmedia types currently available to the user. In this example, a user cannavigate from the main menu 402 to a games collection 404 that listscurrently available game titles. Navigation may also be made to a musiccollection 406 that groups available music titles and a movie collection408 that groups available movie titles. By constructing the hierarchy interms of media type, the user is intuitively presented with titleswithin any given entertainment area. The titles within the various areasmay be stored in any one of many storage locations, but such detail isnot immediately revealed. Thus, the uniform media portal model 400offers a coherent way to access multiple media types regardless of themedia type inserted into the gaming system's portable media drive.

Area specific features, such as high scores on a game or creating asoundtrack, are left for lower levels of the model 400. Thus, beneatheach collection is the specific play area that pertains to theparticular media experience. A games play area 410 is navigated throughthe games collection 404, a music play area 412 is accessed through themusic collection 406, and a movies play area 414 is navigated throughthe movie collection 408. This organization of the model allows users toselect the context of the media type. This model thus provides ahigh-level “filter” on the kinds of media available on the console, andwhat operations may be performed with respect to the media.

The model 400 also accommodates system areas, including a memory area416 and a settings area 418. The memory area 416 allows users to viewmemory contents and manage the memory devices in the console. Thesettings area 418 allows users to preview currently set options, as wellas adjust the settings as desired.

The console application 260, which implements the uniform media portalmodel 400, is stored in the hard disk drive 208 of the console 102. Theconsole application 260 is loaded each time the console is powered on.When power is initially applied and before presenting the main menu orloading a title, the console application 260 runs through aninitialization cycle.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary graphical user interface 500 depictingthe main menu of the gaming system. The main menu UI 500 is generated bythe console UI application 260 and depicted on the television or otherdisplay. The main menu UI 500 contains the five menu elements: a gameselement 502, a music element 504, a movies element 506, a memory element508, and a setting element 510. These elements provide the navigationentry points for the five level-one areas of the uniform media portalmodel 400, namely, the games collection 404, the music collection 406,the movie collection 408, the memory 416, and the settings 418.Environmental background audio may be played when entering the main menuto further enhance the user environment.

The focus on the main menu UI 500 is initially placed on the gameselement 502, but other default positions may be alternatively employed.Any of the four controllers 104(1)-104(4) may be used to navigate theconsole user interface. The main menu is navigated from left to rightwith any of the connected controller thumbsticks. “D-pad” and leftanalog thumbstick actions are treated the same. The console UIapplication 260 recognizes all button presses and thumbstick movementsfrom every controller 104, so moves from multiple thumbstickssimultaneously may result in a “tug-of-war” navigation. In oneimplementation, the navigation does not wrap once the user has reachedthe far left or right extent of the main menu UI 500, thus attempting tomove right once the user has reached the settings element 510 or to moveleft once the user has reached the games element 502 will have noeffect.

A select element 512 allows the user to select the focused element fromamong the five main menu elements 502-510. The “A” button on thecontroller is used to control the select element 512, and hence thegraphical select element 512 illustrates an “a” within the element. Uponselection, the console UI application navigates to the selected area.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of the main menu navigation process 600 that isperformed after the gaming system is initialized. The process 600 isimplemented in software as computer-executable instructions that areexecuted by the CPU 200 to perform the operations illustrated as blocks.The process generally discerns which main menu element is selected andnavigates to the selected area.

At block 602, the console application 260 determines whether the gameselement 502 is selected. If so (i.e., the “Yes” branch from block 602),the console application 260 navigates to the games collection 404 andpresents a games collection menu (block 604). If the games element isnot selected, block 606 determines whether the music element 504 isselected. If the music element 504 is selected, the console UIapplication 260 navigates to the music collection 406 and presents amusic collection menu (block 608). As discussed below, the musiccollection menu includes options to create, edit, and play soundtracksthrough the gaming system.

If the movies element 506 is selected (block 610), the console UIapplication 260 navigates to the movies collection 408 and presents amovie player (block 612). If the memory element 508 is selected (block614), the console UI application 260 navigates to the memory area 416and presents a memory collection menu (block 616). Finally, if thesettings element 510 is selected (block 618), the console UI application260 navigates to the settings area 418 and presents a settingscollection menu (block 620).

FIG. 7 illustrates a graphical user interface depicting a musiccollection menu 700 that is presented upon selection of the musicelement 504 in the main menu UI 500 (FIG. 5). The music collection isthe area where the user can select from available audio discs in theportable media drive 106 as well as soundtracks they have previouslycreated and stored on the hard disk drive 208. The music collection menu700 includes a list 702 of the available audio discs in the portablemedia drive (if any) and soundtrack files on the hard disk drive. Anexample of a suitable audio disc is a Redbook audio CD (compact disc).An example of a suitable soundtrack file is one or more WMA files copiedfrom an audio CD, an audio DVD, a game disc, an online source, or otheraudio source.

An orb 704 contains a graphic of the currently selected audio item and ametatext panel 706 posts information about the current audio element. Asthe user navigates over the list 702 of the available audio discs andsoundtracks, corresponding summary information is posted in the metadatapanel 706. The following information is displayed for the currentlyselected audio disc or soundtrack:

-   -   Name of the audio element as it appears in the list    -   Total number of tracks    -   Total playing time for the audio element in minutes and seconds

In this example, the audio CD is highlighted in list 702 and hence a CDimage is presented in orb 704. As indicated by the metatext panel 706,the audio CD is the 14-track album “Earthling” by David Bowie. Whennetwork access is available, artist and other information (such as tracktitles and release date) can be retrieved from online services over theInternet at any time.

Descriptive text 708 (i.e., “n items”) is positioned beside the mainlegend “Music Collection” to indicate the number of titles in the musiccollection. The list 702 displays a limited number of music titles(e.g., eight titles). When a user first enters the music collectionafter purchasing their console, there will be zero titles in the musiccollection (i.e., “0 items”). In this situation, the music collectionmenu 700 is bypassed and the user is navigated to the music playerscreen (shown and described below with respect to FIG. 8). The title ofthe music player screen is “no audio CD” and all of the playback buttonsin the area are disabled. The user may only navigate back to the mainmenu 500 (FIG. 5).

If the user only has a single audio disc in the portable media drive, ora single soundtrack in the music collection, the user is automaticallynavigated past the music collection menu 700 when coming from the mainmenu and is taken directly to the music player screen. As the usercreates multiple soundtracks and stores them in the hard disk drive, themusic collection menu 700 is no longer bypassed, but instead presentsthe available soundtracks in the list 702. When the descriptive text 708indicates that there are more music titles than shown on list 702 (e.g.,n>8), up/down scroll arrows are added to the list 702 to represent thatmore titles are available.

The user can move among music titles in list 702 by using the up anddown directions of the thumbstick, or some other pre-defined controlmechanism. The list 702 may be configured to wrap or not wrap when theuser reaches the top or the bottom of the list. A select element 710enables user selection of the highlighted title from list 702 using the“A” button on the controller. Selection of a game title navigates theuser to the music player menu. A back element 712 facilitates navigationback to the main menu UI 500 by pressing the “B” button on thecontroller.

FIG. 8 illustrates a graphical user interface depicting an exemplarymusic player 800 that is accessible from the music collection menu or,where no music titles are listed, upon loading a music disc. The musicplayer allows the user to play back the current audio disc in theportable media drive 106 or previously created soundtracks. The musicplayer 800 includes a track list 802 of the available audio tracks andcorresponding track lengths, an orb 804 that contains a radial spectrumanalyzer (or other music related visual), and a status element 806 thatdisplays the current playback status and timeline of the current track.During audio playback, the current track being played within the tracklist 802 is highlighted. The status element 806 renders the followinginformation for the user:

-   -   Current time within the current track    -   Visual progress bar for the current track    -   Simple playback icons to denote playback status (e.g., play,        pause, stop, repeat, random)

A transport control panel 812 is displayed along the bottom of the musicplayer for playback control. An example control panel 812 includes aplay/pause button, a stop button, a skip forward button, a skip backbutton, a random track selection button, and a repeat button. When theuser first navigates into the music player from the main menu or themusic collection, the play button in the transport control panel 812 isin focus by default. Buttons on the game controller 104 may be mapped tothe transport control buttons. For example, a white button on thecontroller might be mapped to the play/pause toggle button, the blackcontroller button might be mapped to the stop button, the left triggermight be mapped to the previous track button, and the Right triggermight be mapped to the next track button.

A “copy song” button 816 is also displayed in the music player UI 800.When the copy song button 816 is selected, the user is navigated intothe soundtrack creation tool with the current audio disc or soundtrackas the source. The soundtrack creation tool allows one or more tracks tobe copied to a soundtrack. The soundtrack creation tool is discussed ingreater detail below.

A select element 808 enables user selection of the highlighted audiotrack from list 802 using the “A” button on the controller. A backelement 810 facilitates navigation back to the previous menu by pressingthe “B” button on the controller.

FIG. 9 illustrates a graphical user interface depicting a example screendisplay 900 used to select an existing soundtrack or create a newsoundtrack. As noted above, users can create their own soundtracks bycopying audio tracks from one or more audio sources. Screen display 900provides users with a list 902 of all soundtracks available to thegaming system. Such soundtracks may be stored on the hard disk drive208, a portable disc medium 108 in drive 106, a memory unit 140, or atremote storage 308 at an online source 304. If the user has created atleast one soundtrack, the list 902 depicts one or more placards ofavailable soundtracks. A user entered name, or a default name“soundtrack 1”, “soundtrack 2”, etc., is shown on the placards.

A “New Soundtrack” button 904 is positioned beside the list to enablethe user to create a new soundtrack. Upon selection of a soundtrack inthe list 902 or the “New Soundtrack” button 904, the user is navigatedto a track selection screen described below with respect to FIG. 12. Ifthe user has not yet created a soundtrack, the list 902 of availablesoundtracks is empty. Upon choosing the “New Soundtrack” button 904, theuser is presented with an area for text entry and a virtual keyboard fortyping a new name for the soundtrack. By default, the name given to thesoundtrack will be “Soundtrack 1”, but any keyboard input from the userwill replace this default title with the entered name.

FIG. 10 illustrates the creation of a soundtrack using a variety ofdifferent audio sources. A new soundtrack 1002 is created by selectingaudio tracks from one or more different audio sources. Exemplary audiosources illustrated in FIG. 10 include audio CDs 1004 and 1006, gamediscs 1008 and 1010, WMA files 1012 and 1014, and audio DVDs 1016 and1018. Although a limited number of audio sources are illustrated in FIG.10, soundtrack 1002 can be created using audio tracks from any number ofaudio sources that represent any number of artists. The audio tracksthat comprise soundtrack 1002 can be arranged in any order, regardlessof the audio source or the time at which the audio track was retrievedor copied.

Audio CDs 1004 and 1006 typically include multiple audio tracks.Soundtrack 1002 may contain one or more audio tracks from one or moreaudio CDs. Game discs 1008 and 1010 may contain one or more audio tracksthat are played during the game. One or more of those audio tracks maybe included in the user-created soundtrack 1002. WMA files 1012 and 1014may be stored locally on the hard disk drive or available from an onlinesource. Each WMA file may contain one or more audio tracks. One or moreaudio tracks from one or more WMA files may be included in soundtrack1002. Additionally, one or more MPEG Layer 3 (MP3) audio files (notshown) may be included in soundtrack 1002. MP3 files may be storedlocally on the hard disk drive or available from an online source. AudioDVDs 1016 and 1018 typically include multiple audio tracks. Soundtrack1002 may include one or more audio tracks from one or more audio DVDs.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating a process 1100 for creating a newsoundtrack. The process 1100 is implemented in software ascomputer-executable instructions that are executed by the CPU 200 toperform the operations illustrated as blocks. Initially, the gamingsystem 100 creates a new soundtrack file to receive the selected audiotracks (block 1102). The user is given the opportunity to name thesoundtrack. If the user does not provide a name, a default name“Soundtrack n” is applied to the soundtrack. The default name can laterbe changed by the user.

At block 1104, the console application 260 presents a list of audiosources from which to retrieve or copy audio tracks. Next, the userselects an audio source from the list of audio sources (block 1106). Theconsole application 260 then presents a list of audio tracks availablefrom the selected audio source (block 1108). The user then selects oneor more audio tracks from the list to include in the soundtrack (block1110). At block 1112, the console application 260 retrieves the selectedaudio tracks and adds the audio tracks to the soundtrack. If necessary,the console application 260 converts the retrieved audio files into WMAformat. For example, audio tracks from an audio CD or an audio DVD areconverted from their native format into WMA format prior to adding theaudio tracks to the soundtrack. Similarly, MP3 files are converted fromMP3 format to WMA format before adding the audio tracks to thesoundtrack.

At block 1114, the console application 260 determines whether more audiotracks are to be added to the soundtrack. This determination isperformed, for example, by querying the user as to whether they want toadd more tracks. If additional tracks are to be added to the soundtrack,the process 1100 returns to block 1104, where the user is presented witha list of audio sources. Alternatively, the process 1100 may return toblock 1106, which allows the user to select another audio track from thesame audio source as the previous selection.

After all audio tracks have been added to the soundtrack, the process1100 returns to the music collection menu (block 1116) shown in FIG. 7.At this point, the music collection menu displays the newly createdsoundtrack in the list of available soundtracks.

Each user of a game console 102 can have their soundtracks storedseparately from the soundtracks created by other console users. Forexample, when a user completes the creation of a new soundtrack, thesoundtrack is stored in an area on the hard disk drive associated withthat user or a user attribute is stored with the soundtrack indicatingthe creator of the soundtrack. Thus, when a particular user identifiesthemselves to the game console, the game console displays thesoundtracks created by that particular user.

FIG. 12 illustrates a graphical user interface depicting an exemplaryaudio track selection screen 1200 displayed during the creation of asoundtrack. Audio track selection screen 1200 includes a list 1202 ofavailable audio tracks (e.g., from an audio disc or an online source),and a corresponding list 1204 of audio tracks that are already in thesoundtrack. The user then selects a single audio track, or multipletracks, to be included in the soundtrack. The screen 1200 also depicts astatus area 1208 that identifies the progress of the total operation.The ordering of the audio tracks in list 1204 can be adjusted bydragging a particular audio track to the desired location in the listand releasing the audio track. The list 1204 is then reordered toreflect the new location of the audio track.

A particular implementation of the audio track selection screen mayinclude a “name soundtrack” button that allows the user to assign a nameto the soundtrack. The name can be entered using a virtual keyboard orother character input mechanism. The audio track selection screen mayalso include a delete button that allows the user to delete a particularsong from the soundtrack.

After the soundtrack is completed, a select element 1206 is activated bythe using the “A” button on the controller. This select element causesthe system to navigate back to the music collection menu. A back element1210 facilitates navigation back to the previous menu by pressing the“B” button on the controller.

If the user cancels a file copy operation, those audio files beingcopied or retrieved will be lost. If a power off occurs while creating asoundtrack, any audio files being copied or retrieved will not beincluded in the soundtrack.

In a particular implementation, soundtracks are stored as one or moreWMA files on the gaming system 100. Specifically, WMA files forsoundtracks are stored in a flat directory on the hard disk drive 208.This directory also contains a text data file that maintains a referenceof all WMA files, as well as the soundtracks to which each WMA filebelongs. Because the game console manages the soundtrack directory, itis possible to keep this data file up to date. An API (applicationprogram interface) may be used to allow a game to query such informationas the list of available soundtracks, the first audio file of a specificsoundtrack, the last audio file of a specific soundtrack, and the nextaudio file in a specific soundtrack.

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram illustrating a process 1300 that determineswhich soundtrack to play when a particular game is launched. The process1300 is implemented in software as computer-executable instructions thatare executed by the CPU 200 to perform the operations illustrated asblocks. When a user plays a game, the user can choose to listen to thegame's default soundtrack or listen to a different soundtrack. If theuser becomes tired of the game's default soundtrack, the user can createa new soundtrack and associate that soundtrack with the game title suchthat the new soundtrack is played when the game is launched instead ofthe game's default soundtrack. This new soundtrack is referred to as a“user-associated soundtrack.”

The process 1300 begins when a user selects a game to play (block 1302).The game may be selected, for example, by inserting a game disc in theportable media drive 106, by selecting a game from list of games storedon the hard disk drive 108, or by selecting a game from an onlinesource. The console application 260 determines whether the selected gamehas a user-associated soundtrack (block 1304). If the selected game hasa user-associated soundtrack, the game is launched and theuser-associated soundtrack is played during the execution of the game(block 1306).

If the selected game does not have a user-associated soundtrack, theconsole application 260 presents the user with an option to select asoundtrack or play the game using the default soundtrack (block 1308).Next, the console application 260 determines whether the user selected asoundtrack or the default soundtrack (block 1310). If the user selectsthe default game soundtrack, the game is launched and the default gamesoundtrack is played during the execution of the game (block 1312). Ifthe user selects to choose a soundtrack, the user is presented with theavailable soundtracks stored on the gaming system (block 1314). The gameis then launched and the selected soundtrack is played during theexecution of the game (block 1316).

When the user selects a soundtrack to play instead of the defaultsoundtrack, the user is presented with the option of making thesoundtrack change “permanent.” If the change is made permanent, theselected soundtrack will be played instead of the default soundtrackeach time the game is played. Thus, the user is not required to selectthe new soundtrack each time the game is played—the system will rememberthe new soundtrack until the user specifically changes the soundtrack orspecifically requests the gaming console to begin using the default gamesoundtrack.

Since the soundtrack is played from the hard disk drive, the playback ofthe soundtrack does not interfere with the execution of the game fromthe game disc. The game disc remains in the game console while thesoundtrack executes, thereby eliminating the game disruptions that wouldoccur if the game disc was removed and replaced with an audio CD. Theuser can change soundtracks in the middle of a game by pausing the gameand selecting a different soundtrack. The game is then “un-paused” andgame play continues at the point where the game was previously paused.The new soundtrack is played back from the hard disk drive while thegame executes from the game disc.

Although the invention has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the invention defined in the appended claims is not necessarilylimited to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specificfeatures and acts are disclosed as exemplary forms of implementing theclaimed invention.

1. A method comprising: receiving a request to launch a game in a gamingsystem; determining whether the game has a user-associated soundtrack;if the game has a user-associated soundtrack: launching the game; andplaying the user-associated soundtrack; if the game does not have auser-associated soundtrack: allowing a user of the gaming system toselect a soundtrack to play while the game is executed; and playing adefault soundtrack if the user of the gaming system does not select asoundtrack.
 2. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein the defaultsoundtrack is provided by the game developer.
 3. A method as recited inclaim 1 wherein the default soundtrack is provided on a game disc.
 4. Amethod as recited in claim 1 wherein the default soundtrack and the gameare stored on a game disc installed in the gaming system.
 5. A method asrecited in claim 1 wherein playing the user-associated soundtrackincludes retrieving the user-associated soundtrack from a hard diskdrive in the gaming system.
 6. A method as recited in claim 1 whereinplaying the user-associated soundtrack occurs while a game disc isinstalled in the gaming system.
 7. A method as recited in claim 1wherein the default soundtrack is stored on the hard disk drive in thegaming system.
 8. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein allowing a userof the gaming system to select a soundtrack includes associating theselected soundtrack with the game.
 9. One or more computer-readablemedia comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed,perform the method as recited in claim
 1. 10. A method comprising:receiving a request to play a game in a gaming system; determiningwhether the game has a user-associated soundtrack; launching the gameand playing the user-associated soundtrack if the game has auser-associated soundtrack; and launching the game and playing a defaultsoundtrack if the game does not have a user-associated soundtrack.
 11. Amethod as recited in claim 10 wherein the default soundtrack is storedon a hard disk drive in the gaming system.
 12. A method as recited inclaim 10 wherein the user-associated soundtrack includes a plurality ofaudio tracks retrieved from a plurality of audio sources.
 13. A methodas recited in claim 10 wherein the user-associated soundtrack isassociated with a plurality of games.
 14. One or more computer-readablemedia comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed,perform the method as recited in claim
 10. 15. A method comprising:receiving a request to play a game in a gaming system; determiningwhether the game has a user-associated soundtrack; if the game has auser-associated soundtrack: launching the game; and playing theuser-associated soundtrack; if the game does not have a user-associatedsoundtrack: allowing a user of the gaming system to select a soundtrackto play while the game is executed.
 16. A method as recited in claim 15wherein allowing a user of the gaming system to select a soundtrackincludes allowing the user to select between a default game soundtrackand other soundtracks stored in the gaming system.
 17. A method asrecited in claim 15 wherein allowing a user of the gaming system toselect a soundtrack includes associating the selected soundtrack withthe game if the selected soundtrack is stored in the gaming system. 18.A method as recited in claim 15 wherein allowing a user of the gamingsystem to select a soundtrack includes associating the selectedsoundtrack with the game if the selected soundtrack is not the defaultgame soundtrack.
 19. One or more computer-readable media comprisingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed, perform the methodas recited in claim
 15. 20. A computer-readable medium for a gameconsole comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed,direct the game console to: determine whether an identified game has auser-associated soundtrack; execute the identified game while playingthe user-associated soundtrack if the identified game has auser-associated soundtrack; and display an option to select a soundtrackto play while the game is executed if the identified game does not havea user-associated soundtrack.
 21. A computer-readable medium as recitedin claim 20 wherein the user-associated soundtrack is played while agame disc is installed in the game console.
 22. A computer-readablemedium as recited in claim 20 further comprising retrieving theuser-associated soundtrack from a storage device in the game console ifthe identified game has a user-associated soundtrack.
 23. Acomputer-readable medium as recited in claim 20 wherein theuser-associated soundtrack is stored on a hard disk drive in the gameconsole.
 24. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 20 whereinthe user-associated soundtrack includes a plurality of audio tracksretrieved from a plurality of audio sources.